OAKLAND – Even before the Detroit Tigers clinched their first division title in 24 seasons, Tigers manager Jim Leyland said the most important part of the regular season was yet to come.

“There would be a lot of baseball left,” Leyland said prior to the game Friday night. “If it happens, if we do get it done … it would be the most important stretch of the season.”

After the Tigers clinched the division with a 3-1 victory over Oakland, Leyland expanded on his thoughts a bit.

“We'd like to try to get home-field advantage,” Leyland said. “So we're going to continue to play, and we're going to continue to play hard. Then we have some other things that we have to sit down and make some important decisions on. Rosters. Rotations.

“We're going to enjoy this tonight. Tomorrow, we'll get after it pretty good.”

The Tigers have two more games in Oakland before an off-day Monday and a two-game series at Kansas City after that. Leyland said he will meet with General Manager Dave Dombrowski and a few others in the organization while in Kansas City to make some important decisions.

“It's an important time,” he said while smoking a giant cigar. “But I'm not going to worry about that tonight.”